NFL SuperPro #2: Rivalry Renewed

NFL SuperPro #2
“The Killer Instinct”
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Breakdowns: Jose Delbo
Finishes: Mike DeCarlo
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Evelyn Stein
Cover: Budiansky, Frenz, Sinnott
Editor: Bob Budiansky
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
Published by: Marvel
Released: Sept. 3, 1991

I said last time that issue 2 seemed like it would feature SuperPro's first battle with a super-villain, but upon further review, I have to revise that.

For one thing, the steroid-mutated rookie 'Pro took on in his debut would be the first super-powered foe he battled, though I don't know if he technically qualifies as a villain since he was just a kid who lost control before dying from the strain the experimental drugs put on his body. Also, the villain in this piece doesn't appear to have any powers, so is he really a super-villain?*

The man's name is Quick Kick, which sounded to me like a G.I. Joe character. A Google search confirmed there is such a G.I. Joe character. But Marvel had the rights to G.I. Joe comics at this point, so maybe it wasn't an issue. (Get it?)

Quick Kick, which in football refers to an unexpected punt, is not only a former football player himself but an old college teammate of Phil Grayfield, aka SuperPro. The story opens on the gridiron of Notre Dame, six years earlier, as Phil forces a fumble. But a teammate, who Phil refers to twice as Stu, is ticked because Phil made the tackle on the running back he was supposed to be covering. A few minutes later Phil knocks the ball loose from a receiver after Stu, a defensive back judging by his jersey number 42, goes for the interception instead of the tackle. Phil praises effort but warns him but offers a critique as well.

After the game, Stu is obsessively writing down the game's plays while his teammates are changing and leaving the locker room. A closeup of his eyes transitions to the present on the next page, where he's apparently dressed as a ninja going by Quick Kick. Using nunchuks, he kills a man who was interfering with his “business interests,” then orders a couple henchmen to shoot another. They hesitate because they recognize that man as a Miami Dolphins player. Quick Kick doesn't care.

A headline on the next page identifies him as wide receiver Michael Frazier and reveals he survived the shooting, albeit in critical condition. SuperPro is on the case as both an investigative TV sports reporter and football-themed vigilante.

Frazier was using his NFL fame and fortune to try to improve lives and combat gangs in his old neighborhood. SuperPro gets a lead on a gang called Los Tiburones, which is apparently Spanish for “sharks,” so you'd think they'd be menacing the New York Jets.

Quick Kick is also after Los Tiburones, brutally killing their members even after he's gotten the information he's seeking: the whereabouts of a shipment of guns stolen for his as-yet unnamed boss. Phil rounds up the same information by... interviewing some teens at Frazier's community outreach center.

I guess it makes sense to talk to these kids if you're investigating the crime as a police officer or sports-themed vigilante, but Phil's not doing his secret identity any favors by doing it as a reporter (who, contrary to what comics, TV and movies tell you, report on crimes rather than play detective).

Speaking of compromised secret identities, when SuperPro and Quick Kick wind up at the airport where the gun are stashed, QK recognizes his old teammate/rival. He says it's because he never forgets a voice, face, play, etc. I think 'Pro should have added some glasses to his costume or at least, this being the Marvel Universe, an eyepatch. He pulls off his mask and 'Pro recognizes him as... Karl Moore? After going back and verifying that he really did call him Stu – twice – in the opening flashback, I have to wonder if maybe the reason Mr. Moore hated Phil so much is that he couldn't be bothered to remember his name.

As Quick Karl bragged about his memory, I wondered briefly if he had Taskmaster-like photographic reflexes, but I think maybe he's just really obsessive. We don't get any exposition on his powers or lack thereof, just a fight that dislodges the wheel jams of the plane in which Quick Kick was about to escape with the guns.

He manages to get on the moving plane and kick 'Pro off, but in the process, he breaks one of the wing supports (or whatever you call them. Here, look at the picture).

The plane takes off but comes crashing back down. With his ex-teammate apparently dead, 'Pro laments the way he used to prize winning above everything else and the fact that Quick Kick/Karl/Stu apparently did as well.

On the last page, we learn Quick Kick was working for Marco Sanzionare, the crime boss whose gambling scheme and efforts to frame another NFL player SuperPro thwarted last issue. He decides to call in an assassin named Instant Replay, apparently for his ability to “cut through time” and not his football-sounding name. So maybe he'll be SuperPro's first official super-villain.

The story is pretty straightforward. Football-related crimefighting? Check. Reference to an actual NFL team? Check. Real-world element like a wealthy athlete trying to help his community with a non-science fiction-related problem? Check. Other than Phil's questioning of the teens for a lead, and Quick Kick's civilian name, nothing jumped out as particularly egregious here for a comic that's often used as a punchline when people discuss it online.

But there's also nothing very noteworthy here. I remember reading somewhere that this wasn't exactly a passion protect for Nicieza. He was doing a job, and that's how it reads. Doesn't make it bad but doesn't elevate it beyond the novelty of the concept either. SuperPro's frustration that his old teammate/new foe apparently died (I mean, this is comics) was a nice moment, although maybe that's the due to nostalgia for a time when so-called heroes didn't waver between ambivalence about taking lives and straight-up murder.

* - And by that token, is the Kingpin? I want to say yes. Then again, if I'm supposed to believe all that apparent blubber is muscle, maybe he does have powers.**

** - And he sort of got powers in “Devil's Reign,” so is it a moot point now?***

*** - Yes, I asterisked my asterisk.****

**** - No, I don't think I have a problem. Why?